Women's Poverty and Fiscal Policies

Abstract

Poverty in the world, especially women's poverty, has started to increase after COVID-19. It is estimated that this increase will continue due to the climate crisis. The main reasons for women's poverty are the low participation rates of women in the workforce, their inability to benefit from educational opportunities equally, and the lack of gender equality. The aim of the study is to investigate the dimensions of women's poverty in the world and in Turkey and to examine the fiscal policies implemented. The study showed that female poverty and the rate of women working unregistered were high in Asian countries, the Middle East-North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa, where gender inequality was highest. In Turkey, it has been observed that the female poverty rate is 33% by 2023. In the study, it was seen that many countries implemented gender-based budget policies regarding women's poverty, and within this framework, they implemented some policies aimed at reducing women's poverty through fiscal policy tools, especially taxes and public expenditures.